How to Interact with Friends Who Have Better Jobs Than You Do

Life is full of defeat. Especially yours. Your inability to remember plays in sixth grade football, your collection of censored rap CDs, and the Cornell sweatshirts your Ivy-bound classmates all wore during your senior year of high school are a testament to that fact. But, when you graduated from college, and things started to look up because you have a great (unpaid) internship and a messenger bag, and Charlie, a nearby buddy, was coming by to check out your new apartment before you both went to grab a drink. And that's when it happened: Charlie began to tell you about his much better job and, once again, you felt defeated. Instead of following your natural impulse to scream insults about Charlie's receding hairline until ultimately demanding that he leave, here's how you should handle the situation: